GamerLegion come back to win BLAST Rivals Spring opener

GamerLegion rallied for a 2-1 win over FURIA on Wednesday as the BLAST Rivals Spring event got underway at Fort Worth, Texas.

Natus Vincere joined GamerLegion as a winner in Group B, getting past FaZe Clan 2-0.

In Group A, Team Vitality pulled out a 2-1 victory over FUT Esports, and G2 Esports swept Astralis 2-0.

The $350,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament features eight teams divided into two double-elimination groups for the initial stage. The group winners move directly to the semifinals of the single-elimination playoff. The group runners-up go to the quarterfinals as high seeds, and the teams that finish third in their groups advance to the quarterfinals as low seeds.

All matches in the group stage and the playoffs are best-of-three until the grand final on Sunday, which will be best-of-five. The championship team will receive $125,000 and two BLAST Frequent Flyer Tokens.

On Wednesday, FURIA opened with a 13-5 victory on Inferno, but GamerLegion responded by claiming Nuke 13-5 and Mirage 13-10. Oldrich "PR" Novy of the Czech Republic paced GamerLegion with 43 kills and a kills and a plus-7 kill-death differential. Brazil's Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato logged 46 kills and a plus-3 K-D differential for FURIA.

Natus Vincere downed FaZe Clan 13-7 on Anubis and 13-11 on Ancient behind 42 kills and a plus-11 K-D differential from Bosnia's Drin "makazze" Shaqiri. Canada's Russel "Twistzz" Van Dulken and Slovakia's David "frozen" Cernansky each finished with 29 kills.

Team Vitality sandwiched a 13-6 win on Mirage and a 13-11 triumph on Nuke around FUT Esports's 13-11 victory on Dust II. France's Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut amassed 69 kills and a plus-32 K-D differential for Team Vitality. Ukraine's Dmytro "dem0n" Myroshnychenko wound up with 53 kills and a plus-9 K-D differential for FUT Esports.

G2 Esports easily dispatched Astralis 13-5 on Dust II and 13-9 on Overpass. Spain's Alvaro "SunPayus" Garcia registered 33 kills and a plus-16 K-D differential for G2 Esports. Denmark's Victor "Staehr" Staehr recorded 31 kills and a plus-2 K-D differential.

The Thursday schedule:

--Group A elimination match -- FUT Esports vs. Astralis

--Group A winners match -- Team Vitality vs. G2 Esports

--Group B elimination match -- FaZe Clan vs. FURIA

--Group B winners match -- Natus Vincere vs. GamerLegion

BLAST Rivals Spring group-stage standings

Group A

T1. G2 Esports, 1-0, +12

T1. Team Vitality, 1-0, +7

T3. FUT Esports, 0-1, -7

T3. Astralis, 0-1, -12

Group B

T1. Natus Vincere, 1-0, +8

T1. GamerLegion, 1-0, +3

T3. FURIA, 0-1, -3

T3. FaZe Clan, 0-1, -8

BLAST Rivals Spring prize pool

1. $125,000, two BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens

2. $75,000

3-4. $40,000

5-6. $25,000

7-8. $10,000

--Field Level Media